Bio

Steve Davis is a highly-cited researcher and expert in earth system science, emissions and energy scenarios, climate impacts and solutions, and corporate climate strategy. He is a Professor of Earth System Science in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability and leads the Sustainable Solutions Lab, a research group dedicated to quantifying how different human activities are affecting climate and air quality, how those environmental changes in turn jeopardize human wellbeing, and the relative priority of solutions.

Steve was a Contributing Author of two Working Group III chapters in the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), serves on the Scientific Steering Committee of the Global Carbon Project, was the Lead Author of the Mitigation chapter in the U.S. Fifth National Climate Assessment, and is a member of the Technical Council of the Science Based Targets Initiative.

Prior to his science career, Steve worked as a lawyer to venture-backed companies in Silicon Valley, and holds degrees from Stanford University, the University of Virginia School of Law and the University of Florida, where he double-majored in Political Science and Philosophy.

Academic Appointments

Contact

  • Academic
    sjdavis@stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: Department of Earth System Science Position: Professor

Additional Info

Links

2025-26 Courses

Stanford Advisees

All Publications

  • Large CO<sub>2</sub> removal potential of woody debris preservation in managed forests NATURE GEOSCIENCE Luo, Y., Wei, N., Lu, X., Zhou, Y., Tao, F., Quan, Q., Liao, C., Jiang, L., Xia, J., Huang, Y., Niu, S., Xu, X., Sun, Y., Zeng, N., Koven, C., Peng, L., Davis, S., Smith, P., You, F., Jiang, Y., Cheng, L., Houlton, B. 2025

    View details for DOI 10.1038/s41561-025-01731-2

    View details for Web of Science ID 001516897700001

  • Globally interconnected solar-wind system addresses future electricity demands. Nature communications Jiang, H., Yao, L., Qin, J., Bai, Y., Brandt, M., Lian, X., Davis, S. J., Lu, N., Zhao, W., Liu, T., Zhou, C. 2025; 16 (1): 4523

    Abstract

    Accelerating energy transition towards renewables is central to net-zero emissions. However, building a global power system dominated by solar and wind energy presents immense challenges. Here, we demonstrate the potential of a globally interconnected solar-wind system to meet future electricity demands. We estimate that such a system could generate ~3.1 times the projected 2050 global electricity demand. By optimizing solar-wind deployment, storage capacity, and trans-regional transmission, the solar-wind penetration could be achieved using only 29.4% of the highest potential, with a 15.6% reduction in initial investment compared to a strategy without interconnection. Global interconnection improves energy efficiency, mitigates the variability of renewable energy, promotes energy availability, and eases the economic burden of decarbonization. Importantly, this interconnected system shows remarkable resilience to climate extremes, generation outages, transmission disruptions, and geopolitical conflicts. Our findings underscore the potential of global interconnection in enabling high renewable penetration and guiding sustainable energy transitions.

    View details for DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-59879-9

    View details for PubMedID 40374647

    View details for PubMedCentralID 10371865

  • A path to US Tribal energy sovereignty. Science (New York, N.Y.) Seibel, S., Luarkie, R., Cardenas, D., Mayer, C., Sanchez, R., Dannenberg, M., Panek, B. M., Bond, A., Gordon, Z., Morishige, D., Hadrick, K., Stahnke, G., Fofrich, R., Davis, S., Tallman, R., Bowser, B., Bazilian, M. D. 2025; 387 (6732): 372

    View details for DOI 10.1126/science.adt7820

    View details for PubMedID 39847633

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9338-0844